Banana and Walnuts Cookies (Vegan)

It's been quite a long time since I last published some cookie recipe. Why did I haven't baked cookies all these months?! Shame on me! Nothing screams home more than the irresistible scent of fresh baked cookies and since I bought the awesome cookbook Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar there was no excuse. Finally, cookies, an indecent quantity of vegan cookies were baked by yours truly this week to compensate all these months without them.

As you can see I'm in a vegan baking frenzy, can't help it, sorry. Actually my vegan cookbooks are quickly taking over my bookshelves and to think that I can cook much healthier baked goods that are as yummy and tempting than the rest makes it even more interesting and challenging for me.

These banana and walnuts cookies really surprised me! Really, really healthy cookies that make a great breakfast. It's an easy and quick recipe that doesn't require any super-special-rare-to-find vegan ingredient, perfect when you have some very ripe bananas and leftovers in your pantry.

It's the first time I tried out the recipes from this cookbook so obviously (and being the stubborn-prefectionist I am) there will be some improvements and small changes in the future. For example: this recipe calls for 2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal and when I started making these cookies I found out I only had oatbran but I went on and, even though I'm sure the texture of the dough is better if you use oatmeal, they came out very good, chewy and not too sweet. I loved the banana-walnut flavor!

Receta en español aquí!

Vegan Banana and Walnuts Cookies
 Recipe adapted from the book Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

Ingredients
(makes 2 dozen cookies)
1 very ripe medium banana.
1/3 cup sunflower oil.
2/3 cup sugar.
1 tsp vanilla.
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour.
1/2 tsp baking soda.
1/4 tsp salt.
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon.
2 cups quick-cooking (not instant) oatmeal or rolled oats.
1/2 cup chopped walnuts.
1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, mash the banana well with a fork. Add the oil, sugar and vanilla and mix with a strong fork. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and mix until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Add the oatmeal, walnuts, and chocolate chips and mix well. Use your hands for mixing when usign oatmeal, that way you make sure that the oats get nice and moist. If the dough is very slippery you might want to add a few tablespoons extra flour (it really depends on how big your banana was).

Clean your hands and roll the dough into balls slightly smaller tan a golf ball. Flatten it a bit in your hands and place each ball about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes approximately, until lightly browned. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack.